Various medical devices are available to stabilize a patient and facilitate his/her breathing, feeding and medication delivery. Such devices may be used in patients during surgical procedures, after certain traumas including spinal cord injuries, and in patients suffering from certain medical conditions including advanced Alzheimer's disease. These devices include endotracheal tubes, airway devices, feeding tubes, oral airways, nasal cannulas and many other devices.
A process of placing a breathing tube in a patient is called intubation. Devices such as laryngoscopes, videolaryngoscopes, fiberoptic scopes, as well as other proprietary videoscopes have been developed which are typically used in order to place an endotracheal tube into a patient. These devices may provide accuracy for initial placement, but do not provide continuous visualization or mobility of the image after the endotracheal tube has been placed in the patient. Newer devices, such as Vivasight SL or DL endotracheal tubes, provide continuous visualization, but are costly because they depend on a single use of disposable cameras and they are not transferrable from one medical device to another. The Totaltrack VLM supraglottic airway has a proprietary reusable camera for only its one device, and it cannot be transferred to other medical devices.
Certain medical devices which provide continuous visualization are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 9,357,905, 9,415,179, 9,918,618, and Patent Publications US 2016-0038008; US 2016-0038014; and US 2016-0262603. In these devices, a camera is placed inside of a camera tube which is a separate lumen sealed at the distal end.
However, the need remains for medical devices which can be easily, rapidly and reliably inserted and removed while the devices are also compatible with a camera. There remains the need for devices which can be easily monitored during placement and after the placement has been completed for an adverse reaction in a patient such as for example, airway secretion, apnea, vomiting, internal bleedings, etc. There also remains the need for devices which can be used to ventilate a patient.